Indonesian offshore loses appeal

摘要

Investment interest in exploration offshore Indonesia is waning, portending further struggles by the southeast Asian nation to reverse a slide in oil production. Major deepwater operators such as ExxonMobil, Norway’s Statoil and US firm Marathon Oil have relinquished Indonesian exploration blocks in the past year because the properties are deemed uneconomic to develop. Costly dry holes, such as Marathon’s Bravo 1 well in the Makassar strait in 2010, have dimmed the geological appeal of areas that previously were considered hot oil and natural gas prospects.